{{Short description|Type of group in the UK Parliament}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} An '''all-party parliamentary group''' ('''APPG''') is a technical group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but has no official status within Parliament.
==Description and functions== {| class="wikitable floatright" style="width:20% ; text-align:center; margin-left:10px" align="right" border="1" |+ Number of APPGs<ref name=standards-20220429/> |- ! style="background-color:#cfb" | Year !! style="background-color:#cfb" | Groups |- |2015 || 580 |- |2016 || 555 |- |2017 || 601 |- |2018 || 614 |- |2019 || 692 |- |2020 || 355 |- |2021 || 696 |- |2022 || 755 |}
All-party parliamentary groups<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/guides/newsid_81000/81876.stm All-party Parliamentary Groups] BBC Democracy Live. Retrieved March 2011</ref> are informal cross-party groups of members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and have no official status within Parliament.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/apg/|title = All-Party Parliamentary Groups}}</ref><ref name=registerjune2022/> Larger APPGs generally have officers drawn from the major political parties from both houses.<ref name=registerjune2022/>
APPG members meet to discuss a particular issue of concern and explore relevant issues relating to their topic. APPGs regularly examine issues of policy relating to a particular areas, discussing new developments, inviting stakeholders and government ministers to speak at their meetings, and holding inquiries into a pertinent matter. APPGs have no formal place in the legislature,<ref name=registerjune2022/> but are an effective way of bringing together parliamentarians and interested stakeholders.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
Every APPG must hold at least two meetings during its reporting year, one of which must be an annual general meeting (AGM) or a meeting which involves an inaugural election of officers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=All Party Parliamentary Groups|url=https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/pcfs/all-party-groups/guide-to-the-rules-on-appgs.pdf|title=Guide to the Rules on All Party Parliamentary Groups|year=2015}}</ref> APPGs cease to exist when Parliament is dissolved for a general election, and must be reconstituted.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
The official register of APPGs is updated about every six weeks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-all-party-party-parliamentary-groups/|title=Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups|website=UK Parliament|language=en|access-date=2021-05-09}}</ref> The number of APPGs is very variable. For example, in 2015 there were more than 550 APPGs.<ref name="guardian-20170106">{{cite news|author=Rajeev Syal, Caelainn Barr|date=6 January 2017|title=Lobbying tsar investigates all-party parliamentary groups|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/06/lobbying-inquiry-registrar-parliamentary-secretaries|access-date=11 January 2017}}</ref> On 2 January 2019, there were 692 APPGs.<ref>{{cite web|title=House of Commons - Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 2 January 2019: Contents|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/contents.htm|access-date=2019-01-15|website=publications.parliament.uk}}</ref> As of 24 February 2020, there were 355 APPGs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=House of Commons - Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 24 February 2020: Contents|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/200224/contents.htm|access-date=2020-03-14|website=publications.parliament.uk}}</ref> In March 2022, one MP chaired 24 APPGs, and 17 MPs chaired over 5 APPGs.<ref name=standards-20220429/>
On 13 May 2014, the House of Commons gave the Commons Select Committee on Standards the power to update the rules for APPGs, which periodically conducts an inquiry to review the rules.<ref name=standards-20220429/>
==Examples== APPGs are either country-based, such as the APPGs on Chile or Zimbabwe, or subject-based, such as the APPG on breast cancer, with the topics reflecting parliamentarians' concerns.<ref name=registerjune2022>{{cite web|url= https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/220615/register-220615.pdf| title=Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups|date= 15 June 2022}}</ref> {{as of|June 2022}}, examples of subject-based APPGs include:<ref name=registerjune2022/>
{{div col|colwidth=20em}} *Adult education *ADHD
*Fire safety and rescue
*Taxis
*Zoos and aquariums {{div col end}}
==Involvement of other bodies== APPGs allow campaign groups, charities, and other non-governmental organisations active in the field to become involved in discussions and influence politicians. Often a relevant charity or other organisation will provide a secretariat for the APPG, helping to arrange meetings and keeping track of its members. Examples of this include: * Survival International acting as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples. * Humanists UK acting as secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group. * The APPG on Christianity being administered by a staff member from the Bible Society. *InterClimate Network acting as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Action against Climate Change.<ref>{{Cite web|title=House of Commons - Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 25 August 2021: Youth Action against Climate Change|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/210825/youth-action-against-climate-change.htm|access-date=2021-11-05|website=publications.parliament.uk}}</ref> * Polar Research and Policy Initiative acting as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Greenland. * Local Trust acting as secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for 'left behind' neighbourhoods.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 February 2022|title=Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/220209/register-220209.pdf|access-date=22 February 2022|website=UK Parliament}}</ref>
Other ways of administering APPGs include borrowing capacity from an MP or peer's office, or by employing staff independently. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief, for example, employs two members of staff paid for through subscriptions from its stakeholders. The APPG on Agriculture and Food for Development uses a similar model.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
Other APPGs may have less stringent administrative needs, such as the UK parliament's All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
==Associate parliamentary groups== In the Parliament of the United Kingdom, an '''associate parliamentary group''' is similar to an all-party parliamentary group except that it is made up of not only members of the House of Commons or Lords but can also include members from outside Parliament.<ref>{{cite book |title=GUIDE TO THE RULES ON ALL-PARTY GROUPS |date=April 2010 |publisher=House of Commons |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/pcfsgroupsrules.pdf}}</ref>
== Criticism == In early 2016, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists launched an inquiry into concerns that APPGs were being used to bypass lobbying registration rules, following reports that lobbyists were acting as APPG secretariats and so gaining access to legislators.<ref name=guardian-20170106/>
As sponsorship for trip to Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir between 18 and 22 February 2020, the APPG on Kashmir (APPGK), chaired by Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, received a "benefit in kind" of amounting £31,501 (Rs 29.7 lakh) and £33,000 (Rs 31.2 lakh) on 18 February 2020 from the Government of Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Canton|first=Naomi|title=UK House team got 30 lakh Pak sops for POK trip - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/uk-parliamentary-group-on-kashmir-declares-rs-30-lakh-benefits-in-kind-from-pakistan/articleshow/77007419.cms|access-date=2020-07-17|website=The Times of India|date=17 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
In April 2022, the Commons Select Committee on Standards published its periodic inquiry into APPGs, focusing on the risk of improper access and influence by paid lobbyists, commercial entities or hostile state actors. The committee is still considering its recommendations for rule changes.<ref name=politico-20221216/><ref name=standards-20220429>{{cite web |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/22081/documents/163809/default/https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/22081/documents/163809/default/ |title=All-Party Parliamentary Groups: improving governance and regulation |id=HC 717 |publisher=UK Parliament |work=Committee on Standards |date=29 April 2022 |access-date=10 January 2023 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
In December 2022, POLITICO reported that over a dozen MPs, peers, diplomatic and parliamentary officials had told them that MPs had used parliamentary trips abroad as an opportunity to use sex workers and for excessive drinking, particularly on trips by single-country APPGs. APPGs have less stringent rules than select committee visits.<ref name=politico-20221216>{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-mps-parliament-appg-house-of-commons-accused-of-using-foreign-trips-for-sex-tourism/ |title=UK MPs accused of using foreign trips for sex tourism |last1=Webber |first1=Esther |last2=Gallardo |first2=Cristina |website=POLITICO |date=16 December 2022 |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=independent-20221228>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-sex-workers-prostitutes-overseas-b2252394.html |title=Sex workers 'ordered for MPs on overseas trip to dictatorship' |last=Forrest |first=Adam |website=The Independent |date=28 December 2022 |access-date=10 January 2023}}</ref>
==See also== * Congressional caucus * Parliamentary group * Parliamentary and Scientific Committee
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/apg/ Information on APPGs on the UK Parliament website] * [https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-all-party-party-parliamentary-groups/ Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups]
Category:All-Party Parliamentary Groups Category:Parliament of the United Kingdom Category:Bipartisanship